Cast: (left to right) Ji Jin Hee, Jo Hyun Jae and Soo Ae

Caught the re-run of Korean drama Love Letter on Starhub Cable last night. It's one of my favourite Korean dramas and I highly recommend it! Sure, it has the usual cliches of typical Korean fare (think terminal illness, unrequited love, puppy love...But no, fortunately no incest, thank God) yet it's so special in the sense that the young cast is each very affecting and the emotions portrayed are so real that you can just feel so much for them. Since Pearl is horrible with reviews, this is one that's on SPCNET: http://www.spcnet.tv/reviews/review.php?rID=718

There was actually another review which I thought was more reflective of my thoughts on the serial, but the website has since been taken off. As for this one, basically I agree with most of what the reviewer said, except on the part about the actor Jo Hyun Jae. Instead, my views on his acting gears towards what Priscilla from Koreanfilm.org Forum said in response to the same doubts:

Milktea wrote:
>I think his acting was ok, but he has potential. One might
>think that his character should be easy to portray because
>he is supposed to be emotionless, due to his 'emotionfree
>sickness'. But in reality, it is quite a complex character.
>I didn't feel the complexity from his acting at times. I
>didn't feel his 'struggle' at times.. I only learned of his
>struggle through the dialog, and not through his body
>motions, etc. But if he works at it, and get more experience
>in more dramas, I'm sure his acting will improve greatly.

Hello there,You hit the nail when you said that Jo Hyun Jae's character "is quite a complex" one. If one wants to discuss bout JHJ's acting, we should know the character first, right?

*** Ji Jin Hee's character was someone who couldn't control his own emotions, a roller coaster about to explode any second. Thus, you can easily "see" the volcano erupting inside him through his constant ranting and screaming.
***Jo Hyun Jae's character was that of a very self-controlled, warm hearted person who hid his emotions "for peace's sake." Sister Jemma said in Episode 5, ' Don't you know by now? When Andrea looks this happy, that's when he's feeling really terrible. He doesn't want to show others how bad he's feeling'. So you can't easily "see" the greater struggles and torments he was suffering inside... so much... that he "stopped feeling." We're not supposed to see it.

You'd be amazed at everything you get to "see" while translating, though. (I've done enough translation by now, I'm guessing...) It can work both ways... sometimes, I start translating and I can't stand the things I see... and it becomes a very tedious work. On the contrary, while working on "Love Letter," I saw and felt for Andrea... making all other weaknesses of this drama be worth ignoring. And what took me by surprise as I was translating, is that "I" saw Andrea's torment, how his heart was ripping apart... when he "coldly" and politely greeted his mother after seeing her many years later, or when he became mean towards Eunha... You said that "you didn't feel" his stuggles at times. But for me, I saw "complete" composure and restraint in the outside... but you have to see his eyes. There relied the windows of his heart. A little twinkle, a little stare... a little closing of the eyes... Those changed- very subtly but you can see the color changing... the mood swinging back and forth... silently telling the people outside: "Why do you tempt me?!"

The "cold-priest" Andrea fascinates me. Self-controlled and calm in the outside, distant and passionless... but still charming, still caring, still kind... still loving. This is why it hit us harder and makes us "feel" more his pain when later on... he really loses his "self-composure"... at last. We see him breaking apart... and we can't blame him for that.

Yup, that was exactly how I felt when I was watching Love Letter, and that was one of the things that kept me glued to the serial.

Which makes me think.. I dun think I've ever seen a bad actor/actress on Korean TV or movies, from the leads right down to the ke-le-feis... Even their child actors/actresses can put many adult Asian actors and actresses to shame, like the kids in the MBC drama Present.

Btw, Pricsilla talked about 'translating' and that's because she wrote one incredibly detailed episode guide that it's almost like a novel in itself... Read here. It's now the most widely circulated Love Letter episode guide on the internet.

Well, Ji Jin Hee is now very very popular especially in Taiwan and HK after the airing of Daejanggeum but haven't heard of any latest works by Soo Ae and Jo Hyun Jae... I'm sure there is but these 2 are just not as popular outside Korea so I haven't been able to find any non-Korean info on them. What a pity... The last I heard of Jo Hyun Jae (who's one of my fav Korean actors now) was when he starred in last year's Gumiho and another serial with Song Hae Gyo. Ah... and not forgetting that supporting role in Untold Scandal with Bae Yong Jun (credited as Cho Hyun Jae in the website, which is just a different spelling basically). After that the one and only non-Korean fansite of his disappeared from cyberspace.

Other websites on Love Letter: http://www.love-letter.net.tc/